The David Sinclair Four were the main act tonight at The Voodoo Rooms, but it was really more of a “Lorna Reid and Friends” evening as Lorna was responsible for bringing David Sinclair and the band up to Edinburgh from London and also introducing some song-writing friends as support acts. I mean the “and friends” comment as a compliment as that friendly feeling of everyone together in one room to play their music and songs to an audience is what helped make this a great night out.

Lorna seemed to have everyone’s job tonight – hostess, compere, and singer of her own work and accompanying everyone else on-stage at times.

Opening the show was Glasgow singer–songwriter Becci Wallace with a short set and some of her own songs from her “Fragmentality” album. There is one very serious song-writer/lyricist at the start of her career here.

Next on, another singer–songwriter from Glasgow – John Alexander, another developing talent and a great user of words in a song. John and Lorna performed a song or two together including a great song about ship building on The Clyde called "Hold On" . John and Lorna also co-wrote "Burning Inside" together.

Closing the first half of the show was Lorna herself with some of her own compositions. Songs like “Searching For The Truth In My Heart”, “Burning Inside” and “My Hotel Wrecking Days Are Over” show a very different side to the singer of “Blues and American SongBook” standards that I heard a few days ago at The Jazz Festival. Not to forget of course a song from this set called “My Anchor” co-written by Lorna and great song-writer Boo Hewerdine. I had heard a few of these songs earlier this year from Lorna when she added them into a show with Jazz and Blues music numbers, but this is the first time I have seen her perform her own work as a solo artist. There are clearly two very different sides to Lorna Reid – the great interpreter of classic Jazz and Blues songs and the very talented song-writer of almost acoustic folk/rock. That talent to sing and perform in such a wide spectrum of styles and write her own material is in the end what will give Lorna an edge in the highly competitive music business.

The second half of the show was our stars for the night – The David Sinclair Four. The band were up in Edinburgh tonight performing their new album “4” in its entirety and also their new single with Lorna Reid “Coming out of the Rain” – available on iTunes now folks.

The David Sinclair Four have had a changing line up at times since their formation in 2005 and on stage here were Marcus Gooda (Bass Guitar), Jack Sinclair (Drums) and Geoff Peel (Guitar), and of course David on Guitar and Vocals. Jos Mendosa is on Bass on the actual album (yes I did buy one). Marcus plays with his band The Yacht Club.

Musically, the band are a very tight foursome and playing with a confidence and skill level that only comes after many years of playing their chosen instruments and as a band on stage. David and Geoff will not I hope take offence when I point out that they have had a little longer to practice than the other band members, and that long love of just listening to and playing music that they so obviously love just comes across to everyone in the audience. There are so many musical influences that are in their music that it is unfair to put them into any one musical box. This band can do such a wide variety of styles – blues, rock, reggae, a little bit of funk and anything else that takes their fancy. At times I could hear little influences of Bob Dylan, Dire Straits and an almost early New Wave sound to their music.

The thing for me though that makes this band stand out is not only the quality of the musicians playing, but the songs. They are also singer–songwriters and lyrically there are some gems there that I have to listen to more closely when I play their CD. Songs like the deeply personal to David “Give Me a Rose” and “Life Gone Cold” are the type of songs that you can only write when life has given you enough experiences to write them down in words and music.

Called in at very short notice and joining the band on stage for a few numbers was local harmonica player Gary Martin, and a great job he did too. Hard to believe that he had only had an hour or so to practice with the band before the show.

The end was pretty much everyone performing on stage.

Just a nice friendly night out with some nice people playing some great music.

The David Sinclair Four and Lorna Reid were heading to Glasgow tomorrow (Thursday 30th) to play at the re-opening of the Clutha Bar, so let’s hope they have a great time there too

This of course being an online review means that I can easily direct you to the following online resources to find out more about everyone tonight.

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